ASCENT LIFT SERVICES LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

03013419 · ltd · incorporated 1995-01-24

Investment thesis

Well-run mature business — low negotiation leverage; premium likely.

Why interesting: Textbook target; clean filings, stable trading.

Why risky: No pressure on seller; any deal likely at full price.

Opportunity decay

approaching window · 12-months

Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.

· Oldest live charge 21.5y old — refinance window within 12 months

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Dec 2025

Net worth

£432.3k

book net assets

Opportunity

82/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Other manufacturing n.e.c.

Sector: Manufacturing

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 65-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 65). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 2 live charge(s) created 15+ years ago — likely paid but undischarged. Clean register. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

2 live charges · oldest 21.5y

65/100

clean up first

Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.

· Oldest live charge is 21.5 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (79/100)

Adequate coverage. AI outputs are reliable for the sections scored high; verify the rest in diligence.

Company profile

address, 1 SIC codes, incorporation date

100

Financials

2 years of iXBRL accounts extracted (YoY deltas available) + narrative notes parsed

Lenders & charges

2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)

Directors & officers

7 officers (3 active, 7 linked, 4 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared

Director network

1 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

86 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

82/100Exceptional

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

Strong composite across quality, acquirability, and risk. High-priority target — progress to serious diligence.

Business quality

Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.

Acquirability

Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.

Risk profile

Few red flags.

Signal strength

100

Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared

Positive net assets

Net assets £432,276

Cash YoY

+38%

Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

£491k

↑ 38% YoY

Net Worth

£432k

↑ 40% YoY

Current Assets

£613k

↑ 35% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2025-12-31	2024-12-31
Total assets	£432.3k	£309.1k
Current assets	£613.4k	£454.8k
Cash	£490.6k	£355.6k
Debtors	£122.8k	£99.2k
Net assets	£432.3k	£309.1k

Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.

🔒Filing-note intelligence

1 signal detected in this company's narrative notes — going-concern language, audit opinion, contingent liabilities, related-party transactions.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

See pricing →

Recent activity

Last 30 days

filings

Last 90 days

filing

• 1 accounts

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (29 events)Click to expand

2026-05-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-08-18
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accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-03-18
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accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-03-02
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-03-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-05-26
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-10-12
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-08-30
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accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-04-19
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accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2017-05-19
📄
second-filing-of-annual-return-with-made-up-date
document-replacement · RP04AR01
2017-03-23
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2017-02-20
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2017-02-20
📄
change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
officers · CH03
2017-02-20
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2016-02-16
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2010-08-12
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: Shoreham Port Authority
2007-08-09
➕
ROBERTSON, Daren appointed
director
2007-08-09
➖
ROBERTSON, Alan Michael resigned
director
2005-01-31
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Shoreham Port Authority
1995-01-24
🏢
Company incorporated
As ASCENT LIFT SERVICES LIMITED
1995-01-24
➕
DOWNS, Richard Paul appointed
secretary
1995-01-24
➕
DOWNS, Richard Paul appointed
director
1995-01-24
➕
LONDON LAW SECRETARIAL LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
1995-01-24
➖
LONDON LAW SECRETARIAL LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary
1995-01-24
➕
DOWNS, Ian Victor Frederick appointed
director
1995-01-24
➖
DOWNS, Ian Victor Frederick resigned
director
1995-01-24
➕
ROBERTSON, Alan Michael appointed
director
1995-01-24
➕
LONDON LAW SERVICES LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-director
1995-01-24
➖
LONDON LAW SERVICES LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

83/100

Critical — business is the founder

The business appears inseparable from the founder. Acquisition without a serious earn-out or meaningful transition period would likely destroy value.

FACTORS

+Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 32 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 65 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

86/100

Likely off-market candidate

Strong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.

SIGNALS

primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 65. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 32 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 32 years old and no new directors in the last 3 years — succession not yet being planned internally.
supportingClean filings + long tenure: Disciplined long-tenure operator — classic lifestyle-business pattern that often sells quietly.

Red flags

clean

No red flags detected from available public data. (This is not a clean bill of health — detailed accounts review still recommended.)

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr Richard Paul Downs Individual · British · DOB 11/1961 · age 65	75–100%	—	75-100% shares	06/04/2016

From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.

🔒Co-director network graph

Radial SVG graph showing every company connected via shared directors, colour-coded by status.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

See pricing →

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Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →

🔒Tailored diligence questions

7 specific questions generated from this company's actual signals — liquidity, leverage, director age, charge count, red flags, age-of-company.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

See pricing →

🔒Advanced scoring suite

Exit-route ranking, improvement thesis, quiet-distress detector, covenant-pressure proxy, extraction monitor, approaching triggers, ownership drift, local cluster, value trap, debt capacity, archetype classification — 48+ scoring modules.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

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Company details

Statusactive

Typeltd

Incorporated1995-01-24

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC32990 — Other manufacturing n.e.c.

Registered office

Unit 4 Hove Enterprise Centre

Basin Road North

Portslade Brighton

East Sussex

BN41 1UY

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-09-30

Last made up to: 2025-12-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-01-24

Last: 2026-01-10

Officers (3 active · 4 resigned)

DOWNS, Richard Paul→

secretary · appointed 1995-01-24

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

DOWNS, Richard Paul→

director · ~65y · appointed 1995-01-24

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

ROBERTSON, Daren→

director · ~56y · appointed 2007-08-09

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

LONDON LAW SECRETARIAL LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 1995-01-24 · resigned 1995-01-24

Resigned

DOWNS, Ian Victor Frederick→

director · ~91y · appointed 1995-01-24 · resigned 1995-01-24

Resigned

ROBERTSON, Alan Michael→

director · ~81y · appointed 1995-01-24 · resigned 2007-08-09

Resigned

LONDON LAW SERVICES LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-director · appointed 1995-01-24 · resigned 1995-01-24

Resigned

Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.

Mortgages & charges

Total charges

Outstanding

Active lenders

Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown

			Type	Properties
	outstanding	Shoreham Port Authority	Rent deposit deed	1 property	12/08/2010	—
	outstanding	Shoreham Port Authority	Lease	1 property	31/01/2005	—

Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.